Ben Slater, one of many Derbyshire homegrown talents, celebrated a new two-year contract by scoring his maiden first-class century during the final round of the Division Two Championship against Leicestershire in 2014.

A Derbyshire age group player from Under-13 upwards, he made his Second XI debut in 2009 and has been scored heavily at that level while waiting for his chance to step up, posting 12 half-centuries and two hundreds in 60 matches.

A left-handed top-order batsman, Slater made his first-class debut for Leeds/Bradford MCCU against Surrey in April 2012. At the invitation of Derbyshire's batting coach, Dave Houghton, he went to Zimbabwe after the close of the English domestic season and scored 89 in his debut first-class innings for Southern Rocks against Mashonaland Eagles.